Shōyō Hinata

Shōyō Hinata  is the main protagonist of the Haikyū!! series by Haruichi Furudate. He is a first year student at Karasuno High and is one of the volleyball team's middle blockers. Hinata's dream is to become strong enough to spike past tall blockers, just like the Small Giant once did. However, since he lacks height for a middle blocker, he specializes in jumping to compensate. Hinata is 164.2 cm, making him the second shortest person on his team, next to Nishinoya.

He has unruly, orange hair and brown eyes. He has a relatively thin build and a short stature, characteristics which often leads him to be mistaken for a junior high student. Hinata typically attires in his Karasuno school uniform with a black jacket and black pants. Beneath his jacket is a beige or tan sweatshirt. In the first episode, he wore the green volleyball uniform from his junior high. After joining Karasuno's Volleyball Club, Hinata wears his volleyball uniform–a black jersey and black shorts with white and orange stripes on the sides. On the back of his jersey is his position number 10 (coincidentally, the same number that was worn by the Small Giant) and his school's name written in kanji. On court, he wears kneepads and white volleyball shoes with red stripes. Hinata is very exuberant, having a cheerful and energetic personality. He is a natural schmoozer, a quality that his teammates occasionally use to win someone over (Nishinoya, for example). Hinata is also very easily excited and often talks loudly; he is the loudest member after Nishinoya and Tanaka. His friendly personality allows him to befriend even the quietest of people effortlessly, such as Kenma from Nekoma High and Aone from Date Tech High.

However, despite his generally bubbly exterior, Hinata is also shown to have a serious attitude, particularly when it comes to volleyball. His intense love for the sport is demonstrated through his impressive display of tenacity that stems from his constant desire to improve his abilities. As stated by Sugawara, Hinata plays with great fortitude in the face of adversity and thus, doesn't give up easily during a match whether it's a practice match or a real match. Hinata can also exhibit a very intimidating face when people underestimate him. Despite that, Hinata gets scared easily, especially by larger and stronger opponents, prompting him to develop a habit of hiding behind the nearest teammate. However, he recovers quickly before confidently challenging the opponents. Hinata, like Kageyama, does poorly in school since he too is preoccupied with volleyball. He once told Sugawara that ever since he'd entered high school, he has never scored in the double digits on any of his tests. Hinata is often described as clumsy yet incredibly athletic. Before entering Karasuno High, he didn't know much about volleyball and would hit any spike he wanted, regardless of what type it was. However, with the help of his new teammates, he soon learned the fundamentals and techniques. Despite the training, Hinata would occasionally have his serves hit the net or have them received easily by opponents. He is not known as a powerful player, but rather one who utilizes speed and stamina to his advantage. However, above all, Hinata’s main assets are his fortitude and determination to win.